days of forever
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: AU. Ariana sometimes wondered if everything would one day get boring enough to eventually break her promise to Aberforth, but days like these often reminded her otherwise. Vampire!Ariana. mentions Louis/OC


The low buzz of her phone filled the air, vibrating against her thigh. Ariana doubted many people along the street, as quiet as it was in that area, would hear it. A glance at the screen told her that it was someone she wasn't ready to talk to, not yet anyway.

She _would_ talk to Aberforth, eventually. He was the only reason she was still alive, if you could call what she experienced 'living', so she was never angry with him for long. When Ariana had been younger, her dreams of growing old included having a family, and eventually dying knowing that she had done everything she could in the little time she had.

Now she had forever, perhaps more. Death didn't come as easily to Ariana as it would for Aberforth and had for Albus, and, Merlin, she had tried everything she could think of, but Aberforth had always stopped her from the one thing that she _knew_ would end her. He had even guilt tripped her into never trying it again.

"Ariana! Ariana! Ariana!"

Startled, she turned at the sound of her name. There were very few people around here that knew her, in fact there were very few people that knew her at all, and fewer still knew her relationship with Aberforth with nearly no one knowing what she was. They tended to shy away from her once they realised that she was a vampire.

She could still remember the immobilising shock that had filled her the first time she had been approached by that exact voice. It had been the first time she had been wandering Diagon Alley in several years, nearly a decade in fact. Her eyes had been painfully wide as she watched the tiny child look up at her with a toothy grin, tugging at her clothing. The child hadn't stopped after a few minutes of no reaction, like she had expected him to either, the tugging continued until she finally bent down to his level.

The boy had grinned, pulling her forward and causing Ariana to lose her balance slightly as her stunned mind struggled to catch up with what was going on before her. She didn't need the air, and yet she found herself struggling for it as the boy's arms tightened around her frozen form.

"Mum always said that when people have that kind of expression on, they really need a hug," the boy informed her, still not pulling back. "We're going to stay like this until you participate in the hug too!"

Shock at the unexpected action slowly wearing off, Ariana's hands slowly rose to awkwardly pat the boy on the back. It had been decades since the last time she had done this, and the action seemed familiar yet strangely foreign to her body.

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You're a very demanding child, you know."

"Ariana! Ariana! What are you thinking about?"

The words jolted Ariana back into the present moment, with the child that was no longer a child standing before her with an expectant expression.

"You're still a very demanding child, Louis," Ariana said, lips twisting into a half-smile.

"I'm not a child!" Louis frowned, looking like he was barely refraining from stamping his foot, "I turned seventeen nearly a year ago!"

"Compared to me, you'll always be a child," Ariana teased, eyes glinting at Louis's resigned expression.

"I always will be too, won't I? Even if I'm all wrinkly with grandchildren…." Louis looked sad for a moment, before perking up. "I've been looking for you for weeks! I want you to be there for my wedding!"

Unexpected emotions, similar to the ones that had coursed through her that day so many years ago filled her again. Ariana sometimes wondered if everything would one day get boring enough to eventually break her promise to Aberforth, but days like these often reminded her otherwise.

"Your parents?" Ariana managed to ask, voice trembling.

"It's my wedding. I want everyone who is important to be there, and you are important. My parents dealt with it when I was a child, they should have learnt to understand by now," Louis said firmly. "It is your decision, though, whether or not you want to attend."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

It would be the first wedding Ariana would ever attend. Perhaps it _was_ fitting for it to be Louis's wedding and not the wedding of some other person she didn't really care for. She'd always wanted to be a part of a wedding. Ariana had dreamt of children when she had been a child, a perfectly little family.

"Really?" Louis's eyes brightened, and he was nearly bouncing on his toes in excitement. "Wonderful, I'll owl you the information. I can-"

"Ariana! There you are. I've been looking for you all day!"

Ariana turned around, facing away from him while Louis between the two of them, confused despite the fact that he was still rocking on his feet.

"Aberforth, please go away. I find it really hard to look at your face because I really, really want to bash it in."

"I said I was sorry! I didn't mean for it to come of like I just wanted to get rid of you! I just-"

Ariana spun around as she felt a brush of quickly moving air.

"How dare you want to get rid of-umph!"

Ariana was moving before her mind had even caught up, body moving to catch Louis just before he hit the ground. Louis's body was tense, every muscle tight as she held him, and his eyes were screwed shut.

"Thank you ground for not being too hard on me. I know I meet you often, but right now was probably not the right time," Louis said quickly as he stopped moving.

Ariana laughed causing Louis to open his eyes.

"Oh. Good. No ground kissing for me today, folks! Show's over."

"You should probably go home, Louis. You can send me the information when you get there."

Louis took one more moment to lie where Ariana had caught him, before stumbling into an upright position.

"Alright. Expect an owl in a couple of minutes, okay?"

"Who is he?" Aberforth asked, making Ariana jump. She had forgotten he was even there.

"Someone important."

"So he's the reason you refuse to leave, or even look for a suitable partner. I'm not going to be around forever, and neither is he," Aberforth warned tiredly.

"I know, and I do not expect either of you to be, but who needs relationships when kittens are in the world? Tigger's little descendants have been wonderful companions."

 **Written for Triwizard Tournament: a character must be depicted as quick and lively and do something hilarious. "I find it really hard to look at your face because I really, really want to bash it in" – Viven, American Horror Story; "Who needs relationships when kittens are in the world?" – Miranda Hart, TV Show 'Miranda'. [Ariana Dumbledore; mobile phone, word count on either 3 or 6 (1106)]**

 **Written for Quidditch League: Wigtown Wanderers – Captain [surprise]**

 **This was surprisingly difficult to write, but I like kind of like the result.**


End file.
